Picket Bank of America!

Bank of America is bad for America! Since the 2008 Great Recession was orchestrated by the ‘too big to fail’ Wall Street banks, citizens have stepped forward as the true leaders who reject the too big to fail premise. Too big to fail is too big to exist.

For the past two years protesters have come to Charlotte, NC, to voice their anger at the Bank of America shareholders meeting. The shareholders and CEO Moynihan don’t respect the people. There is no reforming Bank of America. It must be broken up. During this year’s shareholders meeting we are taking the protest nationwide. Last year we had solidarity protests in 17 different cities, this year we have the goal of 99+!

A Rasmussen survey shows that 50% of U.S. Adults favor a plan to break up the 12 megabanks, which currently control about 69% of the banking industry. Twenty-three percent (23%) oppose breaking up the largest banks, while another 27% are undecided. This means that the public is with us on this issue and it is up to the people who really care to take to the streets and build the movement that will make it happen.

Bank of America, with trillions in assets, won’t break by a few isolated protests. It won’t break by individuals moving their money to credit unions alone. It will break up by sustained collective will that influences the government, emboldens credit unions, revitalizes labor unions, enlists students and restores homeowners. Millions of pinpricks and a sustained demand: Breakup Bank of America.

Bank of America has an Achilles Heel. A sustained persistent stubborn picket at many of their 16,000+ ATMs and 5,600+ branches around the country. A picket can be as simple as 1 person with a sign in front of a BoA during business hours for an hour a week. Picketers can put on educational events, flashmobs, marches, rallies, sit-ins, teach-ins, institutional divestment campaigns, government divestment campaigns, citizen lobbying, LTE’s, gorilla marketing to grow the campaign. Building our organizing means creating a sustained effort that realizes that goals of root change take prolonged strategic effort.

During May 7-14, the week of Bank of America’s shareholders meeting, nationwide picketing, protests, light projections and more creative and artful activism will occur during open business hours at the Bank of America locations nearest you. Be there, welcoming neighbors, carrying signs that win their longterm support. Inform those neighbors, your coworkers, your friends, and ask them to join and support the picket or your action, whatever it may be.

In some cities, people will organize marches, some may do creative direct action and some might consider civil disobedience. Organized actions are enthusiastically encouraged but the common picketer, with the sign holding a simple truth, are the everyday heroes that will provide the persistence necessary for the long task of breaking up Bank of America. We hope that coming out of your action will be a dedicated few that are willing to be consistent in presence and determination.